An elated Danny Willett struggled to find the words to describe his maiden major win, after profiting from Jordan Spieth's Amen Corner nightmare to claim victory at Augusta on Sunday. Twenty years on from Greg Norman's famous final-round collapse in the 1996 Masters, which enabled Nick Faldo to claim the last of his three green jackets, another Englishman was able to celebrate a dramatic triumph.
> READ: Willett clinches Augusta Masters as Jordan Spieth falters
Having sneaked into second on the leaderboard, Willett suddenly found himself in control of the tournament when his birdies at 13 and 14 were followed by Spieth, who had held a five-shot lead with nine holes to play, running up a hideous seven at the short 12th. The defending champion did his best to recover, but was left with too much ground to make up as world number 12 Willett held his nerve superbly to claim the biggest win of his career to date on his wife Nicole's birthday.
Remarkably, Willett's first child was also due on April 10, but Zachariah James arrived last week to ensure his father could participate at Augusta for only the second time.
'My day'
Speaking to Jim Nantz in the Butler Cabin as he prepared to receive his green jacket from Spieth, who ultimately finished second alongside Lee Westwood, Willett said: "It's been crazy. You can't really describe the emotions and feelings. We all go out there to try and play good golf and at the end of the day you know someone is going to win a golf tournament. Fortunately enough, today was my day.
"My wife was born in about 10 minutes time 28 years ago, so it's her birthday back home today. My son was due today and then he came 12-13 days early to obviously let me come and play. So you talk about fate, you talk about everything else that goes with it. It's just been a crazy, crazy week."
Veteran broadcaster Nantz provided a neat summary of Willett's stunning success, responding: "I guess you knew for months that April 10th was the due date, you just didn't know for what."
Comments
SHARE